Question: Rob read $71$ books for the Book Worm Contest. His brother Matt read $36$ fewer books than Rob. How many books did Matt read?
To find how many books ${\text{Matt}}$ read, we need to subtract ${36}$ from the number of books $\text{Rob}}$ read. $71$ $36$ $?$ Rob's books Fewer books Matt's books $71} - {36} = {\Box}$ Let's subtract to find how many books Matt read. $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $71} - {36} = {35}$ Matt read ${35}$ books.